By Ahmad Dagher
LONG BEACH ISLAND––Neighbors of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito said that an “Appeal to Heaven” flag, a symbol used by Jan. 6 protestors during the riot, was flown at Alito’s beach house.
Senate Democrats have said that this is yet another sign that the Court is “out of control,” pushing a conservative-leaning “partisan” agenda.
They argue that Justices Alito and Clarence Thomas (another conservative Justice) have ignored judicial ethics and have allowed their personal political views to dominate over any obligation to at least maintain the appearance of an apolitical, unbiased Court.
Many identify with Senator Mazie Hirono’s sentiment that “We have an out-of-control Supreme Court Majority.”
In light of last year’s reports that Alito and Thomas accepted gifts from conservatives worth tens of thousands of dollars, the current wave of sentiments comes as no surprise. As Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley notes, there is modern frustration “with the court in the sense that it is illegitimate.”
“[20 years ago], you never really heard about that as an issue. There was a sense that the court is above politics…and that’s completely gone…It’s been so accentuated by recent events,” he said.
And this flag story doesn’t stand alone. A flag representing Christian-minded government was flown outside Alito’s vacation house in 2023, and an upside-down American fag was displayed at his home after the 2020 election, both of which were events that angered Democrats who see members of the court as much too politically involved.
Senator Merkley said that these stories will continue to drive demands to reform the Supreme Court––for example, to expand the number of justices, or to rotate them in an attempt to preserve political/ideological balance.
“There [is] increasing political momentum towards reforming the court,” he said.
Alito had said that the upside-down American flag incident occurred only after a neighbor had displayed an anti-Trump sign on their property. But the current story has Democrats insisting that that incident was not a one-time thing.
“This is not a chance indiscretion. This is a conscious decision by the Alito family to advertise their political feelings,” said Democratic Senate Judiciary Committee Chari Dick Durbin.
